


There Must Be Something In The Water

by backslashdelta



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Meeting, Fluff, Lifeguard!Blaine, M/M, Podfic Available, Pool AU, Swimming Pools, The fluffiest thing I've ever written, highschool!Klaine, pre-relationship!Klaine, pure fluff, swim instructor!Kurt, the other Glee club members are mentioned but don't have any dialogue or plot relevence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:22:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26381818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/backslashdelta/pseuds/backslashdelta
Summary: Kurt teaches swimming lessons at a community pool. Blaine is the new lifeguard. They both have a tendency to be distracted by cute boys.
Relationships: Blaine Anderson/Kurt Hummel
Comments: 16
Kudos: 55





	There Must Be Something In The Water

**Author's Note:**

> I worked at a pool in highschool/university and the thought occurred to me to write a cute, fluffy pool AU for Kurt and Blaine, so here you go.
> 
> The CPR technique described is outdated now, but was once standard (at least where I learned it). The old technique worked better for my purposes, so I used that. Please don't take advice on how to do CPR from this fic lol.

"Who's the new guy?" Quinn asks, leaning over to whisper in Kurt's ear.

Kurt looks over to see a short boy with curly brown hair coming out onto the pool deck alongside Artie. Artie worked in the office, so they didn't usually see him around the pool. Artie leads the new boy – who Kurt now notices is wearing a shirt with _LIFEGUARD_ printed in bold yellow letters across the front and back – to the lifeguard chair, pointing out a few things along the way.

"I don't know," Kurt says with a shrug, "where's Matt?"

Artie calls them all over then, so he and Quinn make their way toward the small group of instructors gathering by the lifeguard chair.

"Yo everyone, this is Blaine Anderson. Blaine, this is everyone. He's our new lifeguard, so make him feel welcome," Artie says, clapping a hand on Blaine's arm, then leaving them all to it and making his way back toward the office.

Sounds like Matt's not coming back, then.

"Hi Blaine, my name's Rachel." Of course Rachel is the first to introduce herself, Kurt thinks, rolling his eyes. She sticks her hand out, and Blaine accepts the handshake with a smile. "This is Finn, Mike, Tina, Puck, Santana, Brittany, Mercedes, Kurt, and Quinn," she adds, pointing to each of them as she says their names.

"It's nice to meet you all," Blaine says with a warm smile for the group.

"If you need anything, feel free to ask me. Has anyone shown you around yet? Here, I'll give you a tour," Rachel says, not giving Blaine a chance to answer before linking her arm with his and dragging him away around the pool deck.

"Of course Berry is all over him," Santana scoffs, rolling her eyes.

* * *

Blaine settles into his chair and scans across the pool. Rachel is sitting on the pool deck, her kids sitting with her in a circle as she walks them through what to do if someone starts choking. He sees two of the guys, Finn and the one with the mohawk – he thinks he remembers Rachel introducing him as Puck, but that can't be right, it doesn't sound like a real name – standing on the side and watching as their classes play some game together in the deep end. Tina is in the deep end as well, demonstrating a kneeling dive for her class who sit patiently on the side and watch. He sees the other boy – Mark? Matt? Mike, perhaps, he thinks – teaching his class front crawl. Brittany and one of the other girls – Sandra? Samantha? Samrana? He can't remember, god, he really needs to get better at names – have organized a relay race between their classes which is well underway, and the kids seem to be having a blast. The other blonde girl – whose name he's completely drawing a blank on – is in the shallow end with her class, trying to convince them to put their faces in the water and blow some bubbles. Mercedes is in the shallow end as well, holding one of her kids as he does a front float. And then, in the far corner of the shallow end, is Kurt.

Kurt stands in the water, all but one of his kids standing on the metal platform pushed into the corner. One little girl sits on the edge of the pool, face in her hands as Kurt stands in front of her, seemingly saying something though Blaine is too far away to hear. He watches on as, slowly, the girl peeks out behind her hands. Kurt smiles up at her warmly, says something else, and Blaine sees the girl giggle before finally accepting the hand Kurt offers to her and letting him slowly and carefully guide her into the pool. He can't help but smile at the interaction; he's a sucker for a guy who's good with kids. Of course, being around swimming lessons, he's used to seeing it, but sometimes moments like this still get him. And, if he's being completely honest with himself, it doesn't hurt that Kurt it pretty cute. But now isn't the time for dwelling on that; he has a pool to watch. He forces his eyes away from the boy in the far corner of the pool, and makes a mental note to try to get to know him.

* * *

It's been a few weeks since Blaine started working at the pool, and Kurt could swear the boy got more beautiful each time he laid eyes on him. He tries not to spend too much time looking, and he certainly isn't checking him out enough that he isn't paying attention to his kids, but he'd be lying if he said it wasn't a bit of a distraction.

He glances over again, watching as Blaine makes his way around the pool. He reaches his arms over his head in a stretch, the hem of his shirt rising up above the waist of his swim shorts and showing off the dimples on his lower back, and Kurt doesn't think he's ever described someone's back as _cute_ , but Blaine's lower back is undeniably cute. And so is his butt, but, well, now isn't the time to be thinking about that.

"Why are you watching the lifeguard?" Madeline pipes up, and his head swivels back to look at his class.

"What?"

"Isn't he supposed to be watching us? Does he need someone to watch him, too?" Allison asks.

"No, he doesn't," Kurt answers, flustered.

"Then why do you keep watching him?" Max asks with a confused expression.

"Oh, um, I'm not, I was just... checking the time," Kurt tries.

No dice. "But the clock is that way," Madeline says with a frown, pointing in the opposite direction.

"Oh, you're right. Silly me, I forgot." He's sure his face is crimson red by this point. He loves this class, but why do they have to be so observant?

* * *

"Stay and swim some laps with me?" Tina asks Kurt hopefully.

Kurt glances around, and for the briefest of moments Blaine locks eyes with him before Kurt pulls his eyes away and looks back at Tina. "Yeah, sure."

Blaine watches as the two grab some flutter boards and hop into the far two lanes. Tina takes off first, setting a slow pace with her breast stroke. Kurt starts a moment later, setting a quicker pace with front crawl. Blaine watches the muscles in his back and shoulders work, the lean muscles in his legs propelling him forward with each kick, his compact body gliding smoothly through the water as he pushes himself faster. When he reaches the opposite end of the pool, he does a quick flip turn and pushes off, surfacing and continuing for another lap of front crawl. Blaine can never get flip turns right – he always times them wrong, gets worried he'll run into the wall and flips too early – but Kurt makes it look so easy.

He spends most of the hour watching Kurt swim back and forth, up and down the pool, watching strong muscles work under pale, delicate skin, and really he's just lucky that Wednesdays are always slow, because he's not sure he'd have been able to drag his eyes away from the beautiful boy in the pool if he'd had to.

* * *

It's their monthly staff training day. They always draw names for partners, and by some stroke of luck, Blaine pulled Kurt's name. They're practicing CPR, so now Kurt is lying on his back on the cold tile floor of the pool as Blaine hovers over him.

Blaine presses his fingers gently but firmly into Kurt's ribs, working up to his sternum. This shouldn't be a thing for him, he's done this a million times with the girls and even some of the boys, and he's always been able to think of it from a more clinical perspective. It's _CPR_ , it's a lifesaving skill. But right now there's _Blaine_ , hands all over his chest, touching him, and he can't help but think about all the _other_ ways Blaine could be touching him, and he _really_ needs to stop thinking about that.

He hadn't even noticed when Blaine started the mock compressions, but how he's finished counting and he's leaning down, placing the fingers of one hand on Kurt's forehead and the other beneath his chin, tilting Kurt's head back and crouching down to listen to Kurt's breathing, to _feel_ Kurt's breathing, and he was definitely not ready for this. He tries to calm his breathing, which just makes him panic and it comes out even more irregular, and he's sure he's blushing but all he can really do now is hope that Blaine isn't paying close enough attention to notice. Five seconds later, Blaine is back to feeling up Kurt's ribs, and Kurt is back to wishing he was simultaneously right here forever or literally anywhere else.

* * *

Blaine doesn't know what he did to get lucky enough to be partnered with Kurt for the staff training day, but he hopes he continues doing whatever it was for the rest of his life. Normally he doesn't think twice about any of the exercises involved in a training day; everyone that works at a pool is used to being up close and personal with each other, it's not something that ever _means_ anything, of course it isn't. But Blaine has never worked with someone like Kurt, and, well... he feels a little guilty about the places his mind wandered each time their faces were brought close together, or their hands were feeling each others' bodies, but it's not really hurting anybody if they're just _thoughts_ , right?

"I'm starving," he says as he's crouched down to tie his shoe, glancing up at Kurt.

"The Lima Bean is really close, you could get something there," Kurt answers as he rolls up his towel and tucks it into his bag.

"Yeah, they're good. I just... didn't really want to go alone." He's pretty sure it's obvious, and he doesn't really care at this point, he just wants an excuse to spend more time with Kurt; and if Kurt doesn't take the bait, well, it probably means Kurt isn't interested in spending time with him, and it's best if he knows that sooner rather than later.

"I'll come with you!" Rachel says, and where did she even _come_ from?

"Oh, um... Yeah, okay. Thanks Rachel."

"Of course. Kurt, your dad wanted you home to help with something after work, right?"

"Uh, yeah. He did," Kurt agrees, and does he sound _disappointed_? Blaine thinks he sees the briefest of looks exchanged between the coworkers, but it's so fast he can't really be sure it even happened, let alone what it meant. "I guess I'll see you guys next week," Kurt adds, hoisting his bag onto his shoulder and heading toward the door with a small wave.

"Are you ready to go?" Rachel asks, turning her attention back to Blaine.

"Um, yeah, I'm ready," Blaine replies dumbly.

This is not what he'd planned on. At all. Rachel seems like a nice enough person, but he's also been getting the feeling that she's interested in him – which is saying something, because he's the first to admit how oblivious he can be – and that will definitely not be going anywhere because he is very gay. But he doesn't want to be rude, and there isn't an easy way to say " _I actually wanted Kurt to come with me, not you, but I'm too nervous to ask him on a date_ ," so now he's going to get coffee with Rachel Berry and hopefully not lead her on too much. Maybe he can find a way to casually mention that he likes boys and only boys.

* * *

"Hey Artie, I just forgot my phone out on the pool deck," Kurt says as he walks through the office door.

"Blaine's still out there, so the door should still be open," Artie replies.

"Thanks," Kurt says with a smile as he makes his way down the hall to the pool door.

He hears it before he reaches the end of the hall; it's muffled, and there's an echo from the high ceiling of the pool area, but there's definitely singing coming from the other side of that door. He pushes the door open slowly, quietly, and pokes his head out.

On the other side of the pool he sees Blaine, floor squeegee in hand, shaking his hips and twisting around as he sings to himself and pushes the water toward the floor drains.

" _You make me feel like I'm living a teenage dream the way you turn me on,_

_I can't sleep, let's run away and don't ever look back, don't ever look back._

_My heart stops when you look at me, just one touch, now baby I believe,_

_This is real, so take a chance and don't ever look back, don't ever look back._ "

Kurt steps fully onto the pool deck, letting the door swing closed behind him. Blaine jumps at the sound of the door closing loudly behind him, swiveling around and looking wide-eyed.

Kurt picks up the song where Blaine left off.

" _We drove to Cali and got drunk on the beach, got a motel and built a fort out of sheets,_

 _I finally found you, my missing puzzle piece, I'm complete._ "

It takes a few beats, but then Blaine starts singing again, joining back in with Kurt for the chorus and then through to the rest of the song. By the time they finish, the two boys have danced their way over to the small table by the lifeguard chair.

"Do you sing often?" Kurt asks.

"To myself, a lot, but not usually... to other people," Blaine says, and Kurt could swear he sees a faint blush on Blaine's cheeks, but there's no way... right?

"You should. You're really good." He feels bold saying it, but it just comes out, and now _he's_ definitely blushing.

"Oh. Um, thanks. So are you," Blaine replies, and Kurt thinks he sees that shade of pink in Blaine's cheeks again, but he's trying not to think too hard about that. He's probably just made the whole thing awkward.

"I um, I just forgot my phone," he says, grabbing his phone off the table. "I'll see you later, I guess."

"Yeah, right. See you later," Blaine replies with a little wave as Kurt walks off toward the door.

* * *

After that day with the impromptu _Teenage Dream_ duet, Blaine is pretty sure he's not making things up in his head. Or, at least, not _everything_ ; there's no way that was nothing, right? So he's been making an effort to spend more time around Kurt to try and feel things out. Unfortunately for him, he can be terribly awkward, so that's just translated to him making a point to walk past Kurt's class as often as he can, or stand near Kurt's class as though it just so happens to be the best vantage point of the pool at the moment. He's pretty sure he's fooling exactly no one, except maybe Kurt, but so far nobody has called him out on it. Until now, that is.

"Hey, hobbit. You know there's people in the pool other than Hummel, right?" she says as she walks by him, watching her class swimming laps, and she definitely says it loud enough that Kurt can hear.

"What? I know that, I-"

"Oh give it a rest, we all know you're hot for him. Just ask the guy out already and get it over with," she adds, and then she's far enough away that the rest of the pool would hear if he tried to reply, and he's not sure what he'd say anyway, so he just drops it.

His cheeks are on fire as he directs his eyes back to the pool, and he catches Kurt staring up at him, cheeks just as red, for a brief second before quickly turning away and back to his class.

* * *

Kurt is pretty sure Blaine feels something for him. He'd been trying to convince himself otherwise for a while, but it was hard to deny now. He'd definitely felt _something_ during that duet, as much as he tried to convince himself otherwise, and the other boy's reaction to Santana's comment the other day had confirmed to him that Blaine was at least _interested_. And now it's their staff party and they're paired together again, this time for a game of chicken, and he's still not ready to say something himself but he's pretty sure there's something going on here.

"Top or bottom?" Blaine asks.

"Top, I guess?" Kurt says with a shrug. Really he doesn't care, he just wants to be touching Blaine.

"Sure," Blaine nods.

Blaine ducks underwater then, and Kurt hops onto Blaine's shoulders. Blaine grips Kurt's calves then stands slowly, holding Kurt steady on his shoulders above the water.

"Ready?" Artie asks, looking between the boys to his left and Santana balanced on Brittney's shoulders to his right.

"We're ready," Blaine calls out.

"Born ready," Santana adds, not bothering to look over at Artie as she speaks but instead staring Kurt down.

"On your mark... get set... go!"

Brittany is charging forward then, Santana on her shoulders, and Kurt feels Blaine moving forward, too. He reaches his arms out as they meet in the center, tackling Santana and wrestling with her, but the girl is nothing if not fierce and it's not long before she shoves him sideways hard. Blaine loses his balance, and the boys are tumbling over, a tangled mess of limbs under the water as they try to right themselves. When Kurt brings his head up out of the water, he sees Brittany walking a slow circle around the perimeter of the shallow end, Santana still seated securely on her shoulders pumping her fists in the air above her head and cheering, the rest of the staff sitting on the deck and applauding the girls.

"Alright, who's next?" she challenges.

"Maybe you should be on top next time," Kurt suggests, and a beat later he feels his cheeks flush as he realizes the double meaning in his words.

* * *

Blaine is sick of waiting. He's sick of the uncertainty, of the wondering, of the not knowing. He's had enough, and he's just going to do it.

He blows the final whistle and watches as all the kids slowly get out of the pool and make their way to the locker rooms. He starts his rounds, slowly picking up stray equipment as the instructors pull the metal platforms out of the shallow end. He's careful to position himself such that Kurt will have to walk past him to leave; he's built up the courage to do this tonight, and if he doesn't do it now, he's not sure how long it will take him to build up the courage again.

Eventually, Kurt walks past, and he reaches a hand out and gently stops the other boy. "Hey, could you hang back for a minute?"

Kurt looks at him, a little confused, but agrees. Kurt heads over to the lifejackets, pretends to straighten them out as the rest of the instructors slowly filter out, and Blaine can't help but smile a little to himself at how obviously _not_ productive Kurt is being. When everyone else has left the pool deck, and only the two boys are left, Blaine makes his way over to Kurt.

"Hey, sorry, I just... wanted a little privacy," Blaine says, and he's sure he's blushing, but he needs to get through this.

Kurt furrows his brow, fidgets a little under Blaine's gaze. "Okay."

"I wanted to, um... I wanted to ask if you would get a coffee with me sometime."

"You want- you mean like a... um, a...," Kurt is flustered, his porcelain skin stained a delicate shade of pink.

"I mean like a date," he says with a small smile, and there, he said it, oh god he _said it_.

"Oh. I... Okay." Kurt says, nodding his head slowly.

"Yeah?" Blaine asks, exhaling a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and he can't help the wide smile that spreads across his face.

"Yeah. I'd like that," Kurt replies, shooting a small smile back.

"Great. Um, are you busy right now?" he hadn't been planning on a date _right now_ , but he doesn't have anything else going on, and he can't think of a better way to spend his time than with the blushing boy standing in front of him.

"I think I am," Kurt says, the faintest of smirks on his face, and Blaine's heart drops just a little. Of course Kurt is busy right now, the boy has a life, why would Blaine ask something so dumb?

"Right, sorry, of course you are. Um, well maybe-"

"I'm busy going on a date with this cute guy I work with," Kurt says, smirk a little more evident now.

It takes a moment before Blaine realizes, and then he's smiling wide again. "Oh. Okay, well um, great. How do you feel about coffee?"

"I love coffee," Kurt replies as the boys slowly make their way together towards the locker rooms.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic of] There Must Be Something In The Water](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26979589) by [backslashdelta_podfics (backslashdelta)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/backslashdelta/pseuds/backslashdelta_podfics)




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